MP3 broken and out of guarantee period

Jo_R_2

Hi!

Boyfy bought a Sony MP3 player early last year from Argos on his store card (that's another story LOL!) It has been working fine up until very recently, whereby although it will still play music, the display doesn't work and with a mountain of albums on there, what you pick is the luck of the draw!

It is just out of guarantee, and he took it back to the store where he bought it. He was told that Argos could arrange to send it off themselves to be mended, but because it was out of guarantee, he would have to pay, and it would take at least 16 weeks (!)

Now, obviously it's out of guarantee so I am assuming he has no rights at all for it to be fixed? It cannot be replaced anyway as that model is in longer in production. I am sure it is how it goes but it just seems mad to me that basically a store can sell goods that will turn faulty not long after a year of being bought brand new and not have any responsibility for it!

Rah rah rah!

Tribal

It's called "built-in obsolescense". Manufacturer makes item, guarantee runs for a year, and that's about how long the item lasts! There is no come-back, you are right, Boyfy has no rights. Only suggestion is hunt through the local paper, find tame computer nerd, and see if he can fix it for less -- and faster.

wobbley

Actually you may have some comeback. You obviously wouldn't have paid £100 or so for an MP3 player if you had expected it to only last 13 or 14 months. It's an awfully grey area and all down to how you interpret the word "reasonable" but it's certainly worth trying. I would contact trading standards for their advice and then probably try writing to Sony. Talking to Argos is likely to lead nowhere as they have never heard of the 'Sale of Goods act' or customer satisfaction.
I recently had a digital camera go to the Sony Service Cenre through Argos. They said it would be 2 weeks but it took more than 4 ! Sixteen weeks sounds like they are trying to put you off.

taxiphil

Of course you have comeback! An item of that value would be expected to last for a minimum of 2 years under the Sale of Goods Act. Search on this forum for similar cases - there's loads of advice - and check out the advice pages and forums on http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk

Jo_R_2

Hi all and thanks!

LOL Tribal - I think boyfy would like to think of himself as a computer nerd! I would be inclined to agree sometimes

Wobbley and taxiphil - what you have said sounds interesting. I will definitely look into this more and see if there is anything he can say/do to sort it out. The shame is that this MP3 is a great little piece of equipment, the memory on it is amazing, also that we have a load of albums on there that we would never in a month of Sundays be able to get again now.

Thanks again.

IvanOpinion

Jo_R wrote:

...also that we have a load of albums on there that we would never in a month of Sundays be able to get again now.

First things first .. get the albums off the MP3 player and stored on your computer/CD so that you have them safe.

It should last longer than a year and I think you would have a case under the sale of goods act. While they have the right to attempt a repair 16 weeks is not a reasonable amount of time to expect to be without an item and I would insist on 4-6 weeks (max). If not then request a replacement. This may require you to go to small claims though

Ivan

PeteMc

Is it a NW-HD5 by any chance? Mine did this the other week and I took the battery out, put it back in and the display re-appeared. Worth a try if you haven't already done this.

Darksun

Go to Argos and complain that the goods haven't lasted a reasonable length of time. Provided that the MP3 player hasn't been thrown around or anything, you're well within your rights to ask them to repair. Check out http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/calitem.cgi?file=ADV0043-1011.txt for more information, usually just mentioning the Sales of Goods act is enough for a retailer to take some action (they're usually banking on the consumer being clueless).

It depends on the circumstances of course. If the MP3 player only cost £15 originally, then it might not be reasonable to expect it to last more than a year. If it was a decent player of a reputable make (which being Sony it was) that cost a fair bit, it's perfectly reasonable to expect long term use.

You might also have luck contacting Sony. They may be willing to give you a free warrenty repair if the warrenty has only just expired, or else they might give you some money if you write to head office.